Draft Bill
Citizen volunteer Gene Graziosi, the Mayor Tuman, and Town Manager Steve Foster have been in contact with Daniel Sheehan of Marlowe & Company and Josh Bowlin, Congressman Jones’ Chief Aid in order to track the progress of the introduction of our legislation. A draft bill has been prepared and a final revised map has been prepared and transmitted to Mr. Sheehan reflecting the Town’s recommended changes for the final bill.
Action on the bill has been delayed since Congress has been busy with FEMA. Daniel Sheehan has been working with staff members of Senator Hagan’s office and Senator Burr’s Office to jointly introduce the bill into the Senate in order to gain bipartisan support. Legislation now looks to be introduced in November 2011.
North Topsail Beach Officials Visit Washington to Urge Corrections to CBRA Designation
Officials from the Town of North Topsail Beach traveled to Washington, D.C. the week of April 25, 2011 to continue the Town’s efforts to have the boundary lines of the Federal Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) zone corrected. Mayor Daniel Tuman, Town Manager Steve Foster, and citizen volunteer Gene Graziosi met with key staff members from the offices of U.S. Representative Walter Jones and U.S. Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr. Town officials also met with Mr. Harry Burroughs, Majority Staff director for the House Committee on Natural Resources (Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans, and Wildlife) and Mr. Jason Albritton, Senior Policy Advisor for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (pictured below: Mayor Tuman (left), Gene Graziosi (right) and Josh Bowlen, Legislative Director for the Office of Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr.). 
This trip follows a similar visit made in August of 2009 when Town officials had the opportunity to address U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff to comment on the Service’s digital mapping project. At the it was requested that the Service use the historical records provided by the Town and recommend that Congress correct the boundary lines. Approximately seventy percent of the Town’s land area is within the CBRA zone. The Town’s records clearly show that when the CBRA designation was made that the Town had the required infrastructure in place to facilitate full residential development of the area and did not qualify to be designated CBRA. After waiting almost two years for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make recommendations to Congress, and because the Service doesn’t have the resources to address the Town’s needs, the Town has taken the initiative to urge its representatives in Washington to correct the errors on the CBRA map through legislation.
The purpose of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act was to discourage new development of coastal barriers and encourage the conservation of coastal barriers by restricting Federal expenditures that encourage development, such as Federal flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. The Act was found to be effective by a 2006 Government Accounting Office study in all but a few areas, including North Topsail Beach.